IT managers "need more soft skills

Citation

(2003), "IT managers "need more soft skills", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 27 No. 2/3/4. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.2003.00327bab.005

IT managers "need more soft skills"

IT managers "need more soft skills"

Almost half of UK information technology (IT) managers have received no training in leadership, communication or teambuilding skills in the last 12 months.

"Managers of any kind who are bad communicators, poor at dealing with performance issues and ineffective at’leading teams will not only de-motivate employees, but will also contribute to a loss in overall company productivity", said Karina Ward,marketing manager at NETg, thecorporate education and trainingcompany that carried out the survey.

"With IT playing a more central role than ever in a company's ability to meet business goals, there needs to be increased emphasis on giving ITspecialists help in developing non-IT skills. By providing these employees with a blend of learning content and methods, matched to the learning styles of each individual, training managers can fill this worrying skills gap. For many companies, only familiar with training in IT or finance skills, it will take a change in mindset. Business skills can be learned."

Paul McKelvie, director of ScottishPower learning, commented: "Effective managers require a blend of technical and business skills. It is all too easy for the behavioural skills required by managers to be ignored in favour of the harder technical knowledge. At ScottishPower we place importance on both the technical and the behavioural."

The study questioned more than 1,000 IT managers across a range of industries, including retail, finance and manufacturing. The absence of non-IT skills training was evident throughout. In addition to almost 50 per cent of respondents receiving no professional-skills training in the last 12 months, 28 per cent had experienced three days or less, and only 24 per cent had received more than three days.

"The research results demonstrate that companies are failing to recognize the value of non-IT training to both staff and company progression", said Kevin Withnall, of Vanson Bourne, which helped to carry out the survey. "Today's IT managers cannot afford to be only technical experts. They need to be able to communicate with everybody in the organization, from the receptionist to the chief executive officer. That means non-IT skills are vital. UK plc needs to realize that technology is no good without somebody to communicate its importance to everyone that comes into contact with it. These findings should act as a wake-up call to IT managers, training managers and company boards alike."